


Not So Scary

by BastardBin



Series: Grian and Doc [2]
Category: Hermitcraft, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, because grian thinks a bit too much and doc is a good egg, for like half a paragraph, please revoke my fanfiction license, why did I write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 09:01:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19866973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastardBin/pseuds/BastardBin
Summary: While planning a prank for some unfortunate Hermit, Grian gets a surprise visit from someone who definitely doesn't scare him anymore. In fact, a few things have changed quite a bit since their talk.Or, in which Doc is sneaky, Grian just thinks he's a ham, and they're both enjoying each other's company a bit too much.---Sequel to Communication





	Not So Scary

**Author's Note:**

> this is garbage and im garbage and im gonna go sit in the shame corner

Grian practically skipped about his base, darting from chest to chest in the ever-increasing disaster zone that was his impromptu storage area. Sure, he  _ should _ at least get someone’s help to make an automated system, but the fact was he really just could not be bothered, and the piling mess had yet to actually get on his nerves. In fact, all the other Hermits’ constant commentary on it was more amusing to him than anything; so for now, it stayed, just to see how far he could go in bothering them with it, instead.

But that wasn’t what had put him in such a good mood, no, that was related to something else entirely. His grin grew wider on his face as he found some of the items he was looking for, shoving them into his inventory and prancing to the next box. There were very few things that could get him like this so quickly, and among that list were of course pranks and TNT. This just so happened to involve both; it would come as a surprise to no one that it had a doubled cheering effect on the builder.

He hadn’t planned it all out quite yet, but he was more than ready to plunge headfirst into his plans. And he wasn’t yet sure who the target would be, but whoever it was, he was already looking forward to the blast of angry shouting over the public channel cursing his name that would surely ensue once someone had been caught in it. He played innocent as much as he could, but really, he took quite a bit of entertainment in getting cursed for his pranks.

All he needed now was his TNT, though he wasn’t quite sure where he’d left his supply of it, searching fruitlessly in shulker box after shulker box. Though even over the constant noise of them closing on their own after he’d already darted away, he still heard the faint thud behind him of an entity landing on the floor, and he tensed. The builder knew he really needed to light up his base better, though he kept putting that off too, even though the last thing he needed here in his storage mess was a creeper.

Before he could think of how to react, though, there were arms snaking around his tense form and the cold side of a familiar face pressing against the side of his head, and he instantly deflated. “Doc,” he breathed, not even needing to look to know who his visitor was.

“Boo.” Grian could feel the deep rumble of Doc’s voice against his back, lower pitched than usual. It was a tone he once would have described as scary; now, though, he knew to associate it with a plethora of other things, such as when Doc was  _ trying _ to be scary. Once he’d figured that out, it had become clear that the other was really just a ham. “Did I scare you?”

“No, I thought you were a creeper.”

There was a pause. “Well…” Doc trailed off, waiting for Grian’s brain to fill in the blank while his chest started to shake with deep laughter. Grian just rolled his eyes, turning in Doc’s grip to push his half-creeper face away.

“You know what I meant.” He scoffed, though it did nothing to calm the other Hermit’s low chuckles.

This was exactly what he’d meant about Doc being a ham; one second he’d be pulling his best spooky or intimidating demeanor, and then two seconds later, he could dissolve into a fit of giggles. Not to mention the  _ absolutely ridiculous _ things he’d lose his mind laughing over, or the equally ridiculous things he’d take so seriously it was hilarious in and of itself. But most of all, nothing ever seemed to really make him angry. Even when things went completely wrong, when things he cared about were messed up or disappeared, Doc would at worst just sigh and do it over again, never once raising his voice at anyone.

Grian wasn’t sure why he’d ever been afraid of the guy. Well, he knew why, but it seemed so ridiculous now. Doc’s ‘scary voice’ really was mostly just an act that he used for effect, and beyond that, he was harmless unless someone else pulled out a weapon or asked for deadly redstone first. Even then, he wouldn’t trick anyone, especially not into an unfair fight or otherwise.

How he hadn’t been able to figure that out far sooner, Grian still wasn’t sure. It was impossible to miss now.

“You’re thinking awfully hard there, Grian.” Doc’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, the taller Hermit having recovered from his giggle fit and now pinning the builder with a level and warm gaze. “Something up?”

“Nothing at all.” He answered quickly, maybe a bit too quickly. Doc’s eyes narrowed just a bit, silently pushing for a better answer. “Okay, I might’ve been thinking about you.”

Grian could  _ see _ the interest spark in Doc’s eyes as they widened, followed almost immediately by a wide, toothy smirk, one that made it all too clear he’d just added more points to his ego. Underneath the bravado, though, he could see the faintest glimmer of uncertainty. “Oh  _ really? _ ..Good or bad?”

“Good. Definitely good.” Grian reassured immediately, taking Doc’s face in his hands and putting their foreheads together. His touch was light, delicate, though he could still feel the way Doc relaxed.

“I’m glad.” All pretense of cockiness was gone, replaced by a genuine warmth. It was moments like these that Grian never could have imagined before they’d made an effort to get to know each other, before he’d given the other a chance to even try. Surprisingly soft skin under one hand and smooth metal under the other, fixed by a multicolored gaze that made him feel more valuable than everything the two of them had ever created combined, it was amazing just how much had changed.

Idly, Grian let his fingers trail over the metal, softly tracing the delicate curves and lines. He knew the Hermit couldn’t feel anything on the metal that made up his skin in places, but he still found himself fascinated by it more often than not, enthralled that such a non-living material could be what made Doc whole.

Did the way he look add onto the fear he’d had of him at first, maybe from some sort of misguided caution? Was it from an instinct to avoid creepers, or was it from not understanding the presence of metal? Grian honestly wasn’t sure. It seemed so silly, and he couldn’t picture himself being afraid of the other for any reason at all now. He’d been a fool for judging Doc from the very start, on a basis of absolutely nothing. It had been wrong of him, and maybe even cruel, considering how Doc had ended up feeling about it.

“Ah, I get it now.”

Doc’s voice, yet again, was what pulled Grian from his thoughts. Blinking back to reality, the builder looked back to the mismatched face, not realizing how much he’d zoned out. But Doc didn’t seem to mind; a fond expression had crossed his face, a soft smile pulling at his unique features.

“You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?”

Looking away sheepishly, Grian wordlessly proved his guess correct. He wasn’t sure what to say; what was there? They both knew how he’d felt at first, and they both knew how that had made Doc feel, and that had all long since been worked out. Now, it wasn’t news that Grian still felt guilty about it all. When the silence stretched on, he heard Doc take a breath, and then felt himself being guided to sit on a nearby shulker box.

“Come on, let’s--”

“We’ve already talked about it.” Grian interrupted quietly, shame coloring his tone and still refusing to meet the other’s gaze. He missed the way Doc frowned at him. “We already know I was wrong, and I can’t change that now. It’s only fair that I feel guilty about it--”

Now it was his turn to be cut off, as Doc gently but firmly pushed him down onto the line of shulker boxes and hovered over him. It was a bold enough move that it took away any negative line of thought Grian had, replacing most of his thoughts with flustered screaming, actually. Doc wasn’t ready to take advantage of that, though, instead using the builder’s silence to give him a few words in a voice firm enough to give anyone pause.

“Stop thinking like that and listen, Grian. Everyone knows that hindsight is 20/20, and we don’t always make the best decisions. I don’t care what you thought at first; you’ve proven time and time again now that you don’t really believe it.” The mismatched Hermit’s firm stare wasn’t hostile enough to be a glare, but it definitely left no room for arguing. Grian stayed still and silent beneath him, listening. “What matters to me is that you  _ did _ give me a chance in the end, and now here we are. You shouldn’t keep dwelling on what’s already fixed, especially when it does nothing but hurt you. I don’t want you to feel bad about it anymore.”

His words seemed to echo into silence around the empty base, stretching on as Grian said nothing in reply. Truth be told, he was more than a little bit starstruck; it was the closest Doc’s ever gotten to raising his voice, and it was to defend Grian  _ from himself, _ not to mention the position he’d put them in that he seemed to have yet to actually realize he’d done. The builder genuinely had no words to give, especially since his brain had decided to take all of this and run in a  _ very _ different direction, one that left his face heating up and his heart to start its own marathon in his chest.

When Grian didn’t react to anything he’d said, Doc seemed to finally catch up with the moment. Concern flashed across his face, and he began to sit up, no doubt to pull away to a safe distance just in case he  _ had _ scared Grian again in all of that. “Grian, I’m-” He was going to apologize, Grian knew, but he didn’t give him time to say anything else or to escape for that matter. His hands shot up, grasping the collar of the other Hermit’s tattered excuse for a lab coat, and yanked him right back down again. Doc made a startled noise, but it was drowned out by Grian as their lips crashed together.

It wasn’t the first time it’s happened, far from it. But it had never been quite like this before, with Grian clutching Doc’s coat in a white knuckled grip and not letting him budge an inch. Not that the other Hermit really seemed to mind, melting flat onto the builder the instant they connected. For several moments, Grian forgot about the world around them and anything else, his mind going blank save for the part of his mind that just wanted more, wanted Doc to just be closer than physically possible.

They might’ve stayed like that forever if Doc hadn’t finally been the one to pull away, breath still mingling as he rested their foreheads together again and they both struggled to catch their breath. Grian could feel how warm his face was, though he didn’t particularly care. The other Hermit was giving him a confused, albeit pleased look, and though he wasn’t able to blush Grian wondered if he would be right now if he could.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what that was about.” He admitted with a soft smile. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.”

“Same here.” Grian managed, still short on breath.

Doc took a deep breath, leveling his own breathing with a slow sigh and closing his eyes. He looked comfortable, head rested gently against Grian’s own and his body still flat against his to the point Grian could feel every breath he took.

“I’ll admit though,” He finally said, cracking open one eye to look lazily down at the builder. “I am curious. Here I’m thinking the worst and we’ve taken two steps back, but instead you’ve jumped forward while I wasn’t looking.”

Now Grian was  _ definitely _ blushing, if he hadn’t been before. Looking away, he avoided eye contact while Doc just chuckled at him.

“Come now Grian, you can tell me. Where’d that come from?”

Hesitating, the builder chose his words carefully. “Well, uh… you know how I used to be afraid of you?”

That earned him a raised eyebrow, and a cautious look. “Yeah?”

“I might, um, hm.”

“Grian you need to say actual words or I won’t understand.”

“I, um…” Covering his face with his arms, Grian’s next words came out in a rushed jumble. “I used to find you intimidating but just now what I would have found intimidating before was actually  _ really attractive _ and I just--”

He cut himself off, voice dissolving into a high pitched whine of embarrassment. Doc didn’t move, but he didn’t say anything for several moments either, and Grian  _ knew _ he was grinning. He didn’t even have to look to know how smug the other felt having heard  _ that. _

Except when he finally spoke, Doc’s voice was far closer to curious and mystified than smug. “Do you… really mean that?”

Grian peeked out from behind his arms, looking up to see Doc seemingly trying to process it, as if he was hesitant to believe it was the truth. “Yeah. Absolutely. Please don’t make me repeat it because I’m already dying here--”

There it was. He could see the  _ instant _ Doc accepted his words as truth, with the grin he’d expected splitting two tone features. The builder took in a shuddering breath as the other Hermit allowed more of his weight to press into Grian, and his head ducked down beside his ear. “And what if I wanted to hear you say it again?” Doc asked, using that  _ same _ voice he used for trying to be scary. Apparently it was his sultry voice, too; and  _ damn it _ Grian was so not ready to have a Pavlovian response every time Doc wanted to be dramatic or spooky in a group.

That was for future Grian to deal with, though. Present Grian had other priorities, and Doc definitely wasn’t going to complain.

**Author's Note:**

> i did it i wrote the trash that isnt just vague hinting like this is actual shipping what have i done


End file.
